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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoKHALIL HAMRA | ASSOCIATED PRESSSudanese protesters in Khartoum chant slogans against the government. Thousands marched through the streets of the capital to protest cuts in subsidies.

JOHANNESBURG — Police in Sudan have killed dozens of people who took part in protests over
fuel-subsidy cuts that spread through the country this week, human-rights activists said
yesterday.

The cuts have led to a doubling of the cost of gasoline and an increase of more than 25 percent
in the cost of public transport.

Thousands of mostly young people have taken part in protests in various cities, where police
reportedly used live ammunition.

The human-rights group Amnesty International said at least 50 people were killed, while
activists in Sudan said the true count was above 100.

On Thursday, the state-run SUNA news agency said 29 people, including police officers, were
killed.

Doctors have reported seeing protesters with gunshot wounds to the chest and other parts of
their body, said Manar Idriss, a Sudan researcher for Amnesty.

“We’ve received many reports and confirmed them as well, and also spoken to doctors who say they
witnessed security forces using live ammunition against protesters to disperse the protesters,”
Idriss said.

“This is a case of excessive use of lethal force.”

The protesters damaged at least 69 gas stations in Khartoum alone, and buses and buildings also
were damaged, Sudanese media reported.

The army has been deployed to protect assets in the capital and elsewhere around the
country.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced the slashing of subsidies as a way to save the
country’s economy, which has been badly hit since South Sudan gained independence in 2011 and took
much of the oil wealth with it.

Al-Bashir, who has used a heavy hand to rule for the past 24 years, was meant to fly to New York
this week for the U.N. General Assembly but never departed Khartoum. He is wanted on genocide
charges by the International Criminal Court.

“I think that there is a lot of frustration with the current regime,” Idriss said.

“We have seen since the start of the protests that the government is trying to control the
spread of information, for example, by asking newspapers not to publish information. They also shut
down the Internet for one day.”

The country saw similar protests last year that eventually were crushed by police.

Amnesty warned last year that activists were being held without charges in prison, often with no
access to the outside world. Police were said to have used torture.